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Global Oil Market Well Supplied: Saudi Minister

The global oil market is well supplied and Saudi Arabia has successfully met additional demand, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said on Wednesday. He was speaking to reporters in Moscow, where he is due to attend an energy conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other influential energy officials. Falih said Saudi Arabia had raised its oil output to 10.7 million barrels per day (bpd) in October so far to meet rising demand for oil. “We see the market is being well supplied,” Falih said before the plenary session.

In response to a question about surging oil prices, which reached a four-year high this week above US$85 a barrel, Falih said the current price “was not based on fiscal flows of supply and demand.” “This is created in financial markets,” he said. Sources familiar with Russian and Saudi plans said Falih and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak had agreed at a series of meetings to lift output from September through December as crude headed toward US$80 a barrel. Russian oil output reached a post-Soviet record high of 11.36 million bpd last month.